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“The courses offered by the College of Technology gave me the technical tools, business resources, and confidence to embark on a career.”

John Sofia

Mechanical Engineering Technology '84

John Sofia

Mechanical Engineering Technology '84

Vice President of Quality Assurance and Customer Satisfaction for American Axle & Manufacturing

Influenced by a life-long fascination with all power-driven forms of transportation, John’s affinity for applied engineering and his competitive nature made a career in the automotive industry an innate choice.

John began his automotive career at the former Chrysler Corporation in 1984 as an in-training college student at the stamping, assembly, and diversified operations division. He progressed through a series of manufacturing/engineering positions including production supervisor, production/quality process engineer, and engineering design team leader.

In March 1994 John joined American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) as area manager at Detroit Gear & Axle. His career continued to thrive as he earned several managerial promotions. In October 2004 he was appointed to his current position. John is responsible for maintaining exceptional world-class quality at all of the AAM manufacturing facilities—efforts that have made AAM a benchmark among its peers. In addition, he utilizes data, facts, and trends to establish strategies that save AAM customers millions of dollars in warranty costs.

John’s dedication to his industry doesn’t end with his leadership role. He believes in grooming the next generation of leaders in order to preserve prosperity. He serves on advisory boards for the College of Technology and Krannert School of Management. In addition, he is on the board of directors for the Automotive Industry Group.

John and his wife, Julie, reside in Detroit, Michigan.

This was originally written for the Distinguished Technology Alumni Awards in 2006.